


Constant as the starts above, always know that you are loved.

by joelou5



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Getting to Know Each Other, M/M, Oblivious, Oblivious Harry, Self-Discovery
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-16
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-14 06:08:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28790718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joelou5/pseuds/joelou5
Summary: Four years after the battle of Hogwarts, Harry has yet to publicly appear. One day he receives a letter from Professor McGonagall and finds himself in a place he never thought he'd see again. But he's not the only one coming back to Hogwarts that year.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

Chapter One

The wizarding world had taken a long time to heal itself after the battle of Hogwarts. Between cleaning up the ministry after Voldemort’s reign, holding funerals after funerals for loved ones and chasing after the last Death Eaters, the focus never left from rebuilding Hogwarts. The school did not only have help from all across Britain, people also came from other countries to help with the restoration. The war had affected more people than anyone could have imagined. So after barely two years after the battle, Hogwarts reopened with Minerva McGonagall as its new headmistress and it seemed as the whole wizarding world took a relieved breath. During these two years, the world had craved to see their hero of war, the Boy-Who-Lived, Harry Potter, to make certain that the war really was over. Harry had helped the ministry’s aurors with the capturing of the last Death Eaters, and when they were all found, Harry left the aurors. 

Two years after Hogwarts reopening, there still were no trace after Harry and the wizarding world puzzled over where he could be. The Daily Prophet came with new theories everyday of where the lost hero could be hiding, but only two people actually knew where Harry was. Ron and Hermione, who had been at Harry’s side during and after the war, were getting a bit concerned that Harry was locking himself away from civilisation. But to Harry, the silence and loneliness were, in fact, welcoming. He found it rather comforting to be “just-Harry” and for once not having to care about what went on in the world outside his home. His friends didn’t quite agree with him. 

“Harry, you can’t just keep staying in this house for the rest of your life. You gotta do something, please.” Ron practically begged, not for the first time trying to convince Harry to leave Grimmauld place. “It can’t be good for you, just being in this house alone all the time. You could come back to the aurors, it would be great to be working together with you again, mate.”

“Ron, honestly, I’ve told you hundreds of times, I’m fine.” Harry signed. “And it’s not like I haven’t done anything while I've been here. I’m trying to make this house habitable again, I’m nearly done with the living room. And besides, I’ve got Kreacher as a company, so I’m not really lonely.” Ron looked as if he wanted to object to counting Kreacher as company so Harry sped on. “And you know why I won’t come back to the aurors. I had quite enough fighting.”

“Oh, Harry it’s nice that you’re trying to fix the house, and we both get that you need time, after Ginny and everything,” Hermione looked at Harry with sympathy in her eyes and Harry almost argued that it wasn’t because of his and Ginny’s breakup that he wanted to be alone but thought of better. “But I agree with Ron, it’s just not good for you to be locked away in this house. There are other things that could need repairing you know.” Hermione tried to meet Harry’s eyes with the last statement but he kept avoiding her gaze. Hermione sighed. “Anyway, Professor McGonagall asked me to give you this letter, since you still have those ridiculous wards up against owls.” Harry chuckled to himself, quite thankful that he no longer had to put up with owls from the ministry or the Daily Prophet. He looked at the letter from McGonagall and opened it right away. And nearly equally as fast he dropped it again. 

“Harry? What is it mate?” Ron asked worriedly, when he saw Harry’s face paleing. Hermione said nothing, just picked up the dropped letter and read it through. 

“Oh, Harry this is wonderful! McGonagall wants him to be the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher,” she quickly explained to Ron, “you really should consider it, I think you’d be perfect as a teacher at Hogwarts.”

“Why does she even need a new DADA teacher? I thought McGonagall hired someone new when the school reopened?” 

“Apparently he quit, said that teaching wasn’t for him and left the same day. It was all over the news in the Daily Prophet that the teaching post was getting ‘cursed’ again.” Ron told him and shrugged. “But mate, I agree with ‘Mione, you’d be great at teaching. Just see what happened to Neville after you taught him in the DA meetings.”

“Ron honestly, it wasn’t only me who did something in the DA meetings. We all learned from each other, this on the other hand is a completely different thing. I don’t have the competence to be a teacher, I mean, I’m just 21 for Merlin’s sake.” Ron and Hermione shared a look.

“Harry, you’re the one who defeated Voldemort and won the battle, if you’re not competent enough then no one else is either. Please just think about it.” She continued before Harry could protest again. 

“No. There is no way I’m going to do it.” Harry said and shook his head.  
___________________________________________________________________________

Yet as the first of September arrived, Harry found himself at the platform of nine and three quarters, unable to say exactly how he had gotten himself into this. After the initial shock had settled, Harry had agreed to meet Professor McGonagall at Hogwarts, just to talk a little bit about what the post meant and if it mattered that Harry hadn’t come back to finish his last year. But when he had left the meeting, he found himself in a teaching position. He couldn’t say how it happened, just that McGonagall had a way of persuading people.

So now he was here, taking the Hogwarts Express to Hogwarts once more, as if nothing had changed. But of course, almost everything was changed. There would be none of his friends there to come with him, no Dumbledore to greet everyone at the feast with an odd speech and by the looks of it, there would be very few people at all attending Hogwarts this year. Harry hadn’t expected two year of Hogwarts to be enough to bring in new kids, but that more than half of the compartments were empty was a surprise. Harry found himself lost in thought of all the kids who would never come back to Hogwarts and had to force his anxiety down, breath for breath. 

“Harry? Is that you?” A voice behind Harry startled him and he turned around. His breath caught in his throat and for a short second Harry thought that he was seeing a ghost.

“I don’t know if you remember me, I’m Dennis Creevey, we met briefly during my second year at Hogwarts.” Creevey. Just the name cut like a dagger through Harry and in his head he saw Colin lying on the floor of the Great Hall. Dennis, he must be the little brother then, Harry puzzled, even though the person before him looked older than Harry ever had seen Colin get. 

“Are you going back to Hogwarts to finish your last year? I heard that all students who were in the 7th and 6th year got to go back over these last 2 summers, you didn’t go back with them? He even talks as fast as his brother did, Harry thought with a small smile.

“They did get to do that, yes. But no. I choose not to go back, and neither am I going back to finish my last year now, I’m actually here to take over the post of the DADA teacher. Your last one left in a bit of a hurry I heard.” Both Harry and Dennis snickered a bit.

“Yeah, ran out as fast as he could. We didn’t have a single DADA lesson in 2 months before McGonagall could find someone willing to just fill in for a short while. Apparently, the post is still very cursed. But don’t you worry about that!” Dennis said when he saw Harry’s smile falter just a little bit, “I know you’ll be a great teacher, I mean, I remember you in the DA, you were so kind and patient with everyone.” Dennis' kind words meant a lot to Harry and helped to calm his nerves somewhat. 

“Thank you Dennis. It means a lot to hear that, you know.” Dennis just smiled at Harry and then turned around to leave.

“Well, see you in class then, Professor!” Harry winced and shook his head. Professor. How was he ever gonna get used to students calling him professor? Harry got lost in thought again, and went to find his old compartment where they always used to sit during the train ride.   
___________________________________________________________________________


	2. Welcome home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry finally returns to Hogwarts.

Chapter Two

When they arrived at the Hogsmeade station, Hagrid had been there waiting to lead the first years over the lake with the boats as usual. He had grinned and waved a huge hand when he had spotted Harry and Harry had waved right back. He had missed Hagrid, and also felt a little guilty over not keeping in touch over these past two years. He knew that Hagrid probably would understand as to why he had chosen to exclude the world from his life, but he could have sent a letter. Or two. 

“Harry! It’s good to see yeh, how yeh holding up?” Hagrid had just thrown his arms around Harry and that was that. Harry felt almost nostalgic, that he was once again a small 11 years young kid, who came to Hogwarts for the first time, knowing no one besides Hagrid. 

“I’m fine, feels a bit strange being back here again to be honest.” He said and smiled timidly towards Hagrid, who only chuckled in response.

“Yeah, but I’m sure that ye’ll be settled in soon enough.” Hagrid patted him on the back and turned to leave with the firsties.

“Hagrid, maybe I can come over for a cup of tea some afternoon?” Harry called behind him, before Hagrid could get too far away. Hagrid turned back around and smiled widely.

“Aye, that’d be very nice! I’ll send yeh an owl.” And before Harry could answer anything more, Hagrid had walked away with large steps. He smiled to himself, a great relief of his shoulders, knowing that he and Hagrid would have time to catch up. He started to walk towards the carriages and the thestrals, who had been seen by a lot more people than they usually were seen by, and the younger kids seemed a bit wary of them while the older ones seemed to have some snacks for them to munch on. He couldn’t blame the younger kids for their wariness though, he remembered the first time that he had seen the thestrals and it was a bit of a shock. Harry found a lone carriage and climbed in it. He had known that it’d be hard to come back here, but all of the sudden he felt like he was on the verge of tears when he looked up and saw the castle standing there, looking just as it had done before the war and before the battle. As if nothing ever had happened. 

Harry had joined the teacher table rather absently and took his seat. He could feel all of the students stare at him, but he had gotten pretty good at shutting them out over the years at Hogwarts. The sorting ceremony went by quite uneventfully, with only around 10 new students to sort into different houses. Harry guessed that parents still didn’t feel completely safe with sending their kids off just yet, and he didn’t blame them, he had been in life and death situations from the moment he had set his foot in the castle, not even counting the threat that Voldemort had been. 

“Mr. Potter, are you alright?” the voice of his former Charms teacher rang out to him and he quickly got a smile on his face. He turned towards Professor Flitwick, who was looking at him with a worried expression on his face.

“Yes, Professor, I’m quite alright, just got lost in thoughts I guess.” Harry said with a small smile. 

“You don’t need to call me professor anymore, Harry, you’re a teacher here too now.” Harry let out a laugh.

“Forgive me, but you’re always gonna be a professor to me, Professor.” Flitwick laughed for a second and seemed to get ready to talk to Harry some more but got interrupted by the sound of McGonagall’s voice ringing through the Great Hall. 

“Welcome to Hogwarts!” There was a loud cheering from everyone in the hall and Harry felt a surge of affection to be here again, “I want to welcome all of our new students here and to our old students, welcome back. I would like to go over a couple of rules before we start the feast. As the older students know by now, the Forbidden Forest is strictly forbidden for anyone to enter”, except for when students have detention apparently, Harry thought bitterly, for he had never quite forgiven Dumbledore for thinking that that was an appropriate detention, “and Mr. Filch has made a list of which Weasley’s Wizarding Wheezes are prohibited. It will be put up on the billboard in every house Common Room. Furthermore, no magic is allowed in the hallways. That means, no duelling, no charm practicing and especially no pranking other students.” McGonagall looked around at the students and Harry felt like he already had done something wrong. “We also have two new teachers with us this year. Mr. Potter will be taking on the post as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher”, there was a huge applause erupting in the Hall, “and since Professor Slughorn retired last spring, Mr. Malfoy has agreed to take his place as Potions Master.” To Harry’s surprise, the cheering was almost as loud as it had been for him. He recalled Hermione telling him that Malfoy had been at Hogwarts for almost two years, doing different things, helping Pomfrey and Slughorn. He found himself a little taken back by the applause, but he supposed that it wasn’t important anymore, which side you had fought on in the war and beside, Malfoy and his mother had helped and saved him during the war and final battle. Harry had even testified for Malfoy and his mother not to be sentenced to Azkaban after the war ended. Well, in any case, it didn’t mean that Harry wanted to spend more time than necessary. Both Ron and Hermione had been surprised when they talked about how Malfoy had come to stay all the time at Hogwarts, but Harry found that he most thought it was most logical that Malfoy would want to come back to Hogwarts. After all, Hogwarts had always been the place for people who didn’t fit in anymore in the world outside. Harry thought of all the teachers and other people that he had gotten to know during his time at Hogwarts. Remus, who had found a safe haven once again as a professor, though it didn’t last as long as it should have, Harry thought sadly. Snape, who also had been an outcast, even though Harry tried not to think about his old potions master too much. He thought about Trelawney, the centaurs, the house elves, all the creatures living in the forbidden forest and all the merpeople living in the Black Lake. He sure had seen and met a lot of things most wizards only could dream about. Harry was brought out of his thoughts by McGonagall’s voice once again ringing through the Hall.

“I once again welcome all of you to Hogwarts, but for now, there are warm beds awaiting you. First years, your House Prefects will lead you to your House”, at that notion, 6 persons of every House stood up so the first years could see them, “and I hope that you all will have a good night’s sleep.” McGonagall turned around and Flitwick was quick to join her out of the Great Hall. Harry wondered if she had forgotten that he, in fact, didn’t yet know where he would be sleeping. He signed, I guess the professors always have their sleeping quarters behind their classrooms, he thought, got up from his chair and started to walk towards the entrance. He quickly got lost in thoughts again and didn’t take in his surroundings until he walked right into someone standing right outside the Hall. 

“Oh, sorry, didn’t see you.” Harry said and fixed his glasses that had nearly fallen off when he collided.

“Clearly.” Harry’s head yerked up and found himself face to face with no one else than Draco Malfoy. Just my luck, he thought sourly. He glanced at Malfoy. He had gotten a bit taller after the war, and was almost a head taller than Harry now and he seemed very skinny, as he would break in the middle if someone was a little rough to him. His face was a little sunken in and he was paler than ever before, like he hadn’t been outside in the sun for years. Malfoy didn’t look well at all. Draco raised an eyebrow at Harry as to ask him if there was anything else and then started to turn away. 

“Wait!” Harry cried out before he could stop himself. What was he doing? “How are you?” Draco still stood with his back turned to Harry, so his face wasn’t visible but Harry still damned his stupid mouth for saying things he only wanted to think. Malfoy was just going to laugh at him for asking such a random question, like they were friends or something.

“I’m as well as expected, I suppose.” Draco turned around and looked at Harry with a blank face. It had always bothered Harry just how easily Draco could wipe his face of all emotion. “How… how are you, Potter?” Harry jumped a little bit, because not only did Draco answer his question but he asked him something in return? Something nice? No snarky reply? Harry thought he was dreaming. 

“Well… I’m good. Yeah, really, um, good. Have been fixing up my house, or it’s Sirius old house but he left it to me when he died, and these last year I’ve just tried to make it more livable, but it’s nice to do something else now, I didn’t think that I’d be back here though Hermione went back to finish her seventh year over the summer after Hogwarts reopened. But yeah, it’s very nice and familiar to be back here at Hogwarts.” Harry realised that he was rambling and making quite a fool of himself, but apparently he just couldn’t stop his mouth from running as it pleased. Malfoy didn’t even seem to care about it though, he only nodded in response and made to turn around again.

“Well, if that was all… Goodnight.” With those words Malfoy disappeared down the hallway towards the dungeons. Harry stood still and tried to take in his feelings. Malfoy was nice to him? He didn’t even make a comment on Harry’s obvious awkwardness. But then again, the war was over and they didn’t have to go back to being the persons they were before, nor could they go back even if they wanted to, Harry reconned. And even if it might take some time getting used to it, it was nice not having to fight with Malfoy every time they saw each other. Harry sighed and started walking towards the DADA classroom. He had been right about the professors sleeping in a room behind the classroom, much to his delight. And people call me non-observant, he thought with a small satisfied grin. He found his way to the bed and nearly fell asleep before his head even touched the pillow.   
_________________________________________________________________________

Harry woke with a muffled scream into his pillow. His clothes were soaked with sweat and his muscles were still convulsing. He tried to breathe and sat up in his bed. The memories of dead bodies all around him were still so fresh and real, even though he knew that many of the dead and tortured people he saw in his dreams were just memories of the vision he had gotten from Voldemort. Still, it was one of the worst nightmares he had had in a long time, but he wasn’t too surprised, he had thought that coming back to Hogwarts would trigger some memories, he had only forgotten to take his Dreamless Sleep potion before he went to bed. Harry put his head in his hands and tried to get the lingering pictures out of his mind. He got up, walked to one of his bags where he always kept the Dreamless Sleep potion, but alas, he didn’t have much luck right now. His last vial of it was empty and he cursed himself for forgetting to get more or at least writing up somewhere that he had taken the last dose. Well, not much more to be done about it, he went to bed again after changing clothes and cleaning the sheets with a flick of his wand. He would just have to survive the night and then see if maybe Madam Pomfrey had some potion he could get, or if she knew where he would be able to buy more quickly. If Harry had been any better at potions himself, he would have made his own, but sadly he had not really the patience for the art of potions making. It made him admire Hermione even more though when he thought about how she had been able to make a perfect Sleeping Draught in second year. Truly the brightest witch of her age, he thought with a small smile, and with the thoughts focused on his friends he fell into a fitful sleep.  
___________________________________________________________________________


	3. Routine

Chapter Three

Harry had thought about cancelling his first day of lessons almost three times before he even had breakfast, and when he finally sat down at the teachers table he nearly wanted to cry because of how tired he was. He still smiled and greeted the other teachers politely but did not offer to start any conversations with them. He was dreading his first lesson, even though he had prepared quite well if he said so himself. He and Hermione had gone over what they had learned from Remus and had found his old notes from when Remus was teaching and figured that all of that both first and second years could learn. He hoped that the third years had already covered most of it, but he didn’t count on it. The older students were going to have a little bit more fun, with more practical lessons, like how to summon different shields and deflecting different spells. Harry had wanted more to focus on the defense part of the class, at least to begin with. No matter how good you were at dueling, or how quick you were to shoot a spell, if you couldn’t properly defend yourself, you’d end up dead. 

Harry finished his breakfast and went to the classroom on the third floor. Since it was a Monday, he had the first years first, then the second years and then the third years followed by the fifth years. He saw it was a kind of warm up, that he had the firsties first. But you never know, younger kids are also a challenge. He got into the classroom and started preparing. He was going to talk a bit about different jinxes and some ‘dark’ creatures, like vampires, zombies and hags. Harry remembered that he often wondered what they were like when he first came to Hogwarts, having seen them only in Dudleys video games before it. He thought that maybe the new students would appreciate it as well. Harry glanced at the clock on the wall, five to 10. Showtime, Harry thought and went to open the classroom door. Standing outside was already many of the first years, Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, Ravenclaws and Slytherins. Since there weren’t enough students to actually divide them into two groups, Harry thought that they could just all be in the same class. And if it worked well, he would also suggest to McGonagall to do so with all students. He smiled towards them.

“No need to be standing here outside, come on in!” Harry said and walked towards the blackboard in front of the classroom. Quietly and carefully, the first years entered the room and sat down in the benches. They didn’t even speak to each other, but Harry had expected that from them, after all, in their eyes he was someone big and famous and not a real human being. Most of the kids probably had his chocolate frog card. When the clock rang out, Harry closed the door and started the lecture. 

“Hi! I’m Professor Potter, and I will be your Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year, and hopefully more years to come.” He got some smiles from the students but still no one dared to talk or laugh. “Since you are completely new to this subject or at least beginners at it, we’ll start with going through what the differences are between jinxes, spells and curses. That’s the focus of this lesson, but if we have the time, we’ll also talk about some dark creatures. Any questions?” At his remark, a small boy from Gryffindor raised his hand. “Yes, Mr..?”

“Mr. Axton, Sir. Garret Axton.” Harry nodded to Garret to continue. “Well, you see, I was just wondering, if we are going to learn some cool spells, like some that you used to defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named with?” Some other students gasped and the mention of Voldemort, others looked like they agreed with Axton.

“To start with, if you’re going to talk about Voldemort, you might as well say his name. The fear of a name only increases the fear of the person, and quite honestly, there is no point of fearing Voldemort anymore since he’s dead.” Now all students were quiet and some had paled when Harry had said Voldemort. “Secondly, you are all going to learn useful spells, and if you find some of them ‘cool’ then that’s good for you. This class is about learning how to defend yourself, and how to know the difference between spells so you always know what you are protecting yourself against. To blast head first into battle without even knowing how to produce a shield would only get yourself killed.” The students were hanging on to every word he was saying and some of them were even scribbling down furiously what he was saying. “Anyway, like I said before, this lesson we’ll start with knowing the difference between curses, jinxes and other spells. Was there any other questions or can we begin the lesson now?” No student raised their hands and so Harry began.   
___________________________________________________________________________

Harry was properly exhausted when it was time for dinner. He had skipped going down to the Great Hall for lunch and instead asked an elf to come to his room with food. All the lessons went by fast and without any incidents. He was quite happy over the fact that it had gotten as well as it had done, but there were still the seventh years who hadn’t had their first lesson with him yet. He also had gotten the patrol schedule from McGonagall, and saw that he and Malfoy were sat on patrol together almost every night. Harry didn’t know why McGonagall thought that it was a good idea to make them do patrols together or why they were to do it so often, because most of the other teachers had only been scheduled to patrol the corridors max two times a week. Kind of unfair, but if he was completely honest, Harry thought that it was quite nice to have something to do most nights so he could spend as little time as possible being asleep. Straight after dinner Harry went to the Hospital Wing to see if Madam Pomfrey was there. Walking into the wing, he saw, much to his surprise, no one other than Malfoy standing with Madam Pomfrey and talking. Harry stopped at the entrance and didn’t want to disturb them by just walking in any further. But before he would turn away and come back later, Madam Pomfrey had discovered him by the doors. 

“Mr. Potter! Come in, come in, no use in standing there just idly watching.” Harry blushed a bit, she made it sound as though he had stood there for a long time just listening to them. He walked towards them.

“I’m sorry, Madam Pomfrey, I was just wondering if you have any Sleeping potion, I’ve run out of mine and haven’t gotten the chance to order more yet.” Harry felt Malfoy's eyes on him and when Harry sneaked a glance at him, he had a very thoughtful look on his face.

“Oh, I’m very sorry dear, but I’m also out of Sleeping potion right now, and the next batch isn’t coming here until next week.” She looked regretfully at him. “What was it for, maybe we can find some other potion that can work for the purpose just this week?”

“Oh, no, I believe that the sleeping draught is the only thing that actually helps the cause. I’ve tried some of the no dreaming potions that there are, but unfortunately, they don’t work for me.” Malfoy had turned his entire focus towards Harry now, and it was starting to get uncomfortable. “I’ll just have to see if I can find some other way to get it.”

“I can make it for you.” Harry and Madam Pomfrey turned to Malfoy. He looked as surprised that he had said something as Harry was feeling. 

“You could make Sleeping potion for me?” Harry asked, dumbstruck.

“That’s what I said yes.” Malfoy sounded a bit annoyed. “I’m a Potions Master after all, and a Sleeping Draught isn’t very complicated. I’m most likely to have a batch ready for you tomorrow morning.” Malfoy said, but then remembered something and continued. “Or I would, but we have patrolling tonight so it might take a little longer. I could do a simpler version of it, it’s not as strong though but it will be sufficient until I have the time to brew a complete one.” 

“That’s really kind of you, thank you.” Harry said and gave Malfoy a small smile. Malfoy only nodded and turned to move. 

“We’ll talk more later Poppy, if you’ll excuse me.” And with that, Malfoy turned and left the wing. Harry stood left, frozen on the spot in surprise. Malfoy really had changed a lot after the war. Harry said goodbye to Madam Pomfrey too, and went back to his chambers to take a quick nap before patrol. He went to his bed, remembering to put an alarm with a quick spell. He laid his head down on his pillow and tried to remove all thoughts from his mind. After some time, he finally fell into a comfortable sleep.


End file.
